Mark Conner General Interest

Melbourne, Australia

Melb

I love living in Melbourne, Australia. Since 2002, it has been consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. This year, the Economist ranked it third, behind Vancouver and Vienna. Just this last week, the population of Melbourne surpassed 4 million people, while Australia surges towards 22 million.

For recent research on the state of the church in Melbourne, click here and here. The vast majority of Melbourians are unchurched. We desperately need all existing churches to reach out with the good news of Jesus Christ with greater effectiveness and we need more churches to be planted to reach the wide variety of people who inhabit our city. As we see stronger local churches established, Melbourne has the potential to be a launching pad of mission and outreach activity to our state, our nation, and the world.

Mark Conner Sports

Geelong Cats – AFL Premiers 2009

CatsWhat an incredible AFL Grand Final it was yesterday as the Geelong Cats fought back to defeat the St.Kilda Saints by 12 points in front of just under 99,251 screaming fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The game was an absolute arm-wrestle in freezing conditions with neither team leading by more than 2 goals throughout the entire game. St.Kilda dominated the inside 50s but didn't take advantage of a number of opportunities (much like the Cats in last year's losing Grand Final against the Hawks). The last quarter was a ripper, with the Cats just lifting enough to get over the line, possibly fueled by the agony of last year's unexpected defeat.

For the Saints fans, it was a disappointing day. They had a superb season, having lost only 2 games all year. They will feel like this was the one that got away. Unfortunately, there are no prizes for 2nd place. Someone had to lose and the Saints were unlucky.

For Cats fans, it was a day to remember as Geelong has now won 2 of the last 3 Grand Finals. They've been the dominant team over the last 3 years and two consecutive Grand Finals losses would have been too much to bear. Fortunately, they finished strong and are enjoying the celebrations now.

It was also great to see Gary Ablett Jnr get up and win the Brownlow last Monday night after a number of excellent seasons.

Go Cats!!

Mark Conner Humour

Computers

AbottHere's a funny one about computers.

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to really understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those who sometimes get flustered by computers, please read on … If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, 'Who's on First?' might have turned out something like this:

Continue reading “Computers” →

Mark Conner Church, Leadership

Managing Transitions

ChangeLeading change is one of the most difficult and important tasks of leadership. Yet it is something God calls each of his leaders to do. God came to Moses and told him they he and Israel had been going around the same mountain long enough and that it was time to "break camp and advance" into their future (see Deut.1:6-7). God wants us to be his "change agents." So often we settle far from where God wants us to be so he comes down to shake us out of our complacency and into a fresh vision for a better future.

Leading change is not easy and we need lots of faith, courage, and wisdom to do it well – in an effective and God-honouring manner. [Click here to read an article I wrote early last year on Leading Your Church through Change, which contains an excellent model for leading change from Nehemiah]

Those who study change tell us that it is not the changes that kill us but the transitions. It was one thing for Moses to get Israel out of Egypt with God's help. It was a totally different thing to get Israel throughthe wilderness and into the Promised Land. In fact, many of them didn't make it.

The most insightful contemporary thinker and writer on this vital subject is William Bridges. His book Managing Transitions contains a wealth of wisdom for anyone leading or experiencing change. Click here for an extended summary I did of this excellent book many years ago.  

Experiencing change is like letting go of one trapeze and you still haven't taken hold of the next one. That's a scary feeling! it requires trust in God that he will not let us fall and that there is a new trapeze for us to lay hold of.

To change the metaphor, there is a new season and a new chapter after the close of this season and chapter. God is a God of movement. May he give us grace to keep in step with him. We don't know what tomorrow holds but we do know who holds tomorrow in his hands. He is the ALPHA (the beginning) and the OMEGA (the end). He has begun a good work in each one of us and he will complete it (Phil.1:6). We can sleep at night because of that assurance.

Mark Conner Church, Current Issues

The Economic Downturn’s Affect on Churches

Economy Everyone is aware of and affected in some way by the recent economic downturn. Many analysts believe things have 'bottomed out' and we're on the way up, but only time will tell. Churches aren't immune from the stress and strain that emerges in times of pressure such as this. Tough times affect giving.

In a recent report about the state of the church in America, it was revealed that 19% of churches have recently laid off staff, with many other churches freezing salary levels or reducing ministry costs. This is due to a decrease in church giving. Many non-profit entities have also been hit hard.

Australia has been affected less than America by the current global financial situation. However, there are many churches whose income is down and who have had to lay off staff or downsize ministry activities.

At CityLife, we have been blessed by the continued generosity of our people. However, our giving is considerably lower than we anticipated for this year, though still slightly above last year's giving levels. Over the last month we conducted an entire review of all of our ministries. In addition to our lower than budgeted for income, we discovered that we had an imbalance of resource allocation (staff and budget). Some ministries were being significantly over-resourced in proportion to others who had gradually become significantly under-resourced. As a result, we decided to reduce and realign our staffing budget. This means that there are a number of staff roles that have recently been made redundant, as well as some reduction in hours for other staff, while a number of staff members have taken voluntary redundancy packages. These changes are organisational not personal, although obviously they do affect individuals who we love and appreciate very much. This has not been an easy thing to do. There is nothing worse that having to inform a faithful staff member that their job has been made redundant.

For those staff whose positions have been made redundant, we have given what we consider a generous financial package and the offer of human resources support (such as career counselling, resume creation and interviewing training). Most staff are finishing up fairly soon so as to not prolong this process unnecessarily. One of the reasons we have done this now rather than at the end of the year is to give people ample time to transition into new jobs or situations well before the Christmas and January period where it is much more difficult to look for work. 

In addition to this, we are looking at a number of other cost-saving initiatives including closing our bookshop (underway), moving our audio-visual resources online (free weekly audio messages), closing our CONNECT television program (to be replaced by a possible video podcast), and moving towards more web-based communications (we will shortly cease printing of the bi-monthly glossy coloured magazine and replace it with an interactive e-newsletter with hyperlinks to web, as well as a simple black and white bulletin each month for those without internet access).

This has been a period of uncertainty for all of us as a staff team. Pruning is an unpleasant but necessary activity at certain seasons in all of our lives. I would like to commend all of our staff for their excellent attitude during this time. It is very important that churches and ministries pull together during times like these and move forward with a strong sense of unity. This requires continued prayer and support so that transitions such as these are carefully navigated. We trust that God will work everything out for each person's ultimate good.

Mark Conner Quotes

Growth

Here is an insightful quote I read recently …

   "There is no growth without change …

    There is no change without loss …

    There is no loss without pain."

[From the book Deliberate Simplicity by Dave Browning, p.12]

Mark Conner Sports

Michael Jordan – the Greatest Baskeball Player of all Time?

Jordan Basketball is my favourite sport. I started playing it when our family lived in America during my teenage years and I still play today (though I'm a lot slower now!). As a kid I used to love to watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls on TV. They won 6 NBA championships in the 1990s.

Click here and here to watch some highlights from Michael's career. Recently, Michael was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, along with other players such as the 7' 1" David Robinson, an athlete with a strong Christian faith (watch his speech here). You can watch Michael's speech here (it's 23 minutes long). Notice that anything we achieve in life is always with the help and support of our family, our mentors, our friends, our team, and even our failures … and God.

Will anyone ever be a better basketball player than Michael? Some say current players such as Kobe Bryant or Lebron James have the potential. Only time will tell …

 

 

Mark Conner Church, Leadership

Women in Ministry

I believe that every church should be committed to releasing every person into ministry. Every Christ-follower is ‘saved’ (not just to go to heaven!) AND ‘called’ (to a special purpose here on earth – see 2 Timothy 1:9). All ministry should be based on ‘godliness and giftedness, not gender’.

Unfortunately, many churches restrict or limit women from ministry, and especially from leadership. I believe this is because of a misunderstanding of what the Bible says about women. As with any issue, we need to go back to the beginning – to God’s original intentions. Before the Fall, men and women were both created in the image of God and they were both given the dominion and the reproduction mandate. They were called as ‘partners’ in life and ministry (see Genesis 1:26-31). Only after sin entered was there hierarchy and a loss of the partnership model between men and women (see Genesis 3:16).

Jesus came to bring us back to God’s original intention – partnership. Paul tells us that in Christ there is ‘neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, for you are all one in Christ’ (Galatians 3:28). He is not saying that these distinctions cease to exist (racial, socio-economic and gender differences) but that they should now no longer be a cause for prejudice or discrimination.

Jesus and Paul valued women and released them into ministry. The Holy Spirit was poured out on men and women, and both prophesied (Acts 2). Spiritual gifts are given to men and women, and both will be held accountable for their use (see 1 Corinthians 12 and 14). If a woman has a teaching gift, then let her teach. If a woman has a leadership gift, then let her lead.

Yes, there are a number of places in the New Testament writings that seem to limit the activity of women in the church, but these are always in dysfunctional environments (e.g. at Corinth and in Ephesus, where there was false teaching spreading amongst the women). In healthy environments, women were encouraged to minister and were also involved in significant leadership roles, including leading entire house churches.

It has been terrific to see the focus on racial reconciliation in the broader church world of late. People today would never think of withholding ministry from someone based on their race. I believe we also need to see reconciliation and release of women into the full rights and opportunities of ministry and leadership within the church. It is part of God’s plan and I believe it is a key to the church being all that God has called it to be in our generation. Men, I believe it’s up to us to create an environment where women feel valued, appreciated and empowered.

Churches can benefit greatly from women who faithfully contribute to our church’s ministries, who speak regularly as part of our teaching teams, and who lead in various ministries within the church, including serving in governmental roles such as Elders or Board members.

For a more in-depth discussion of this important matter, feel free to download a copy of my paper on ‘Women in Leadership‘.

Mark Conner

Mark Conner Church, Leadership

Women and the Church

Women leading After sixty years of involvement in the Southern Baptist Church, former American President Jimmy Carter has left. Over what? Over his disagreement with their stance over the ordination of women. Read the article here. The SBC articles forbid the appointment of a woman as a pastor, as they see this as a male-only role.

The role of women in the church is such an important issue. It's sad to see some people ignoring the issue while others continuing with man-made traditions and spurious interpretations of the Scriptures.

As world renown biblical scholar N.T. Wright profoundly says, the best place to start when considering the role of the women in the church is John 20 and Romans 16. In John 20 we see women as the first witnesses of the resurrection and as being personally commissioned by Jesus to go tell others that he is risen. In Romans 16, Paul thanks and commends many women who were active in the church, both in leading house churches and even one who was an apostle – Junia (vs.7).

Other texts that seem to silence women need to be taken in their local context, which is always a dysfunctional environment and not to be seen as the 'norm'.

God's original design was for men and women to partner together in life and ministry. Jesus and Paul seek to get us back to that intention. Let's do the same in our generation.

P.S. For further thoughts on women in leadership and our approach at CityLife Church, click here.

P.S.S. For those who want to do some more scholarly work, this issue, like all issues, should take us back to our understanding of God as Trinity. Our God has revealed himself as one God existing in three persons. The Trinity is the model for all human relationships, including marriage. Is their equality in the Trinity or is their subordination? In the incarnation, the Son humbled himself and became man but does this equate to the eternal subordination of the Son? Kevin Giles has written an influential book on this topic called The Trinity and Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate. Click here for reviews of this book and ongoing discussion.